A group of Lakewood residents will continue to fight the city over a proposed charter school they don’t want built.

On July 2, the Lakewood city clerk received a notice of intent to file a referendum petition to overturn the rezoning of land for the Rocky Mountain Deaf School, which wants to move from Golden.

The Lakewood City Council on June 25 OK’d the rezoning of 2029 S. Wright St. to allow the pre-K through 12 school to build on Jefferson County School District-owned property adjacent to open space.

If the residents collect enough signatures, the petition would force the council to revisit the decision, and if they decline to overturn the rezoning, the issue would go to the voters this fall.

Art Beck, a resident opposed to the rezoning, said the city has other location options, and the zoning classification allows for too many possibilities. “The city needs to look at other options. The rezone allows for too much additional construction.”

Calls to the individuals who filed the intent to petition were not returned.

Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy said the area was always intended for an elementary school with hundreds of students. “This is an opportunity to really serve a needed population with much less impact than originally thought.”

The deaf school hopes to build a 46,000-square-foot building that could accommodate a maximum of 100 students.

In public meetings, residents claimed construction of the school will have a negative impact on the area with increased traffic, noise and pollution. “We’re not against the school, just where they want to put it,” Beck said.

City clerk Margy Greer said 2,963 signatures, or 3 percent of Lakewood registered voters, must be gathered by Aug. 10 or the rezoning becomes official.

Ward 5 Councilwoman Diana Allen, who represents the neighborhood around the school site, said she respects residents’ opinions but disagrees with them.

“I truly believe we made the right decision when we voted in favor of the rezone,” Allen said.

Ryan Parker was a reporter for The Denver Post from 2011 until May 2014. A Colorado native, Parker started his career at smaller weeklies and worked for YourHub before becoming a breaking news reporter for The Post.

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